Dale Palmer, driver who dragged daughter under car, faces court
A woman who left her adult daughter grievously injured after drunkenly running her down with a car and dragging her down the road has made a desperate bid to avoid jail.
St George Shire Standard
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A Sydney mother who ran down her daughter with a car and dragged her several metres down the road has told a court she was sickened and devastated by the consequences of her actions.
Dale Palmer, 58, pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm after hitting her 28-year-old daughter Keely with a Toyota Starlet and dragging her 100m along their Caringbah South street on May 2 2021.
The court heard there had been an alcohol-fuelled argument at a family event on the night in question, with Miss Palmer becoming trapped under the vehicle as she tried to prevent her mother from driving while intoxicated.
Miss Palmer was left with horrific injuries after the shocking incident – and the court will now consider whether Palmer will serve an inevitable prison sentence in a jail or in the community as an intensive corrections order.
Palmer’s barrister told Magistrate Christopher McRobert at Downing Centre Local Court she felt intense shame about her conduct and the impact it had on her daughter.
“She says, ‘I’m deeply sorry to my daughter, my family, my neighbours, the police officers and the ambulance paramedics’,” the barrister told the court.
“(She continues) ‘I committed a great wrong and I feel real shame for that criminal wrongdoing … I feel absolutely devastated, sickened beyond anything I’ve experienced’.”
Palmer’s barrister described the 11 months since Palmer was charged as a “personal hell” for the entire family – which has now offered Palmer their forgiveness.
“She was in that hell by her own wrongdoing, and she did not seek to minimise that wrongdoing,” he continued.
“She does not think or act in a way that reflects a belief that her pain and suffering is greater than that which was sheeted home to Keely Palmer – there is a conscious comprehension that she wronged her daughter and several others in the community.”
The barrister urged Mr McRobert to consider imposing an intensive corrections order with supervision, community service, and conditions to continue with psychological treatment and abstain from alcohol.
The court heard alcohol had not previously been an issue for Palmer but in light of the events leading up to Miss Palmer’s grievous injuries, she was attending Alcoholics Anonymous and had abstained voluntarily from alcohol since her arrest.
The Crown conceded an intensive corrections order but urged the court to consider what sentence would send the strongest message to the community denouncing the “abhorrent” behaviour.
Mr McRobert will deliver Palmer’s sentence on May 26 after he considers the matter and the defence obtains a report on her ability to complete community service.
She remains on bail.
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